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“The hurt man was sleeping, and you kept telling him to wake up.”

“What else happened?”

“There were loud beeps. Then he got mad because you wouldn’t let him sleep.” He shrugs.

“It was only a dream, sweetheart.”

“Is he still mad?”

I think of Alexei surrounded by monitors and men afraid to tell him no. “Almost certainly.”

That satisfies him, so I warm milk and cut an apple into thin slices while Misha circles the sofa.

“Bed,” I say.

“I’m flying.”

“You can fly to the bathroom and brush your teeth.”

He makes one final pass before landing against my legs. I change his pajama top because jam has dried stiff on one sleeve, then wipe his hands and guide him through teeth, toilet, water, and blanket. For the next ten minutes, my only problem is whether dinosaurs sleep standing up.

Misha chooses the green book, climbs into bed, and tucks his yellow race car beneath the blanket beside him. His eyes are already heavy, but he points at the cover.

“Twice.”

“Once.”

“Two once.”

I lie beside him and read the story twice. Halfway through the second reading, my phone vibrates on the bedside table. Blocked number. I let it ring.

Misha presses one finger to the page. “You skipped.”

“I didn’t.”

“You did.”

I go back three lines. His eyes close before I reach the end, one hand curled beneath his cheek and the other wrapped around the yellow race car.

I stay until his breathing deepens, then ease myself up and carry my phone into the kitchen. Another blocked call comes through.

I answer this time. “Hello?”

Only silence answers.

“Who is this?”

The connection remains open for six seconds before ending.

I stare at the screen as two notifications appear almost together. The first comes from my bank.

Your account access has been restricted pending legal review.

I open the app and enter my password. Rejected. The second attempt gives me the same message.

My salary account is frozen. So is the savings account where I keep enough money for six months in case Misha gets sick, I lose my job, or something else goes wrong.

Then I get an email from a collection company I don’t know. I open the file and read the first page twice.